Vietnam wants its gamblers staking their $1.1 bil at home

HANOI (Feb 28): Vietnam’s revolutionary founder Ho Chi Minh relied on lottery ticket sales to raise money for schools and hospitals during the war years. Now Hanoi’s Communist leaders are looking to casinos, horse betting and modern lottery-ticket machines to do the same.

So far this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued two decrees aimed at upping Vietnam’s game in the regional competition for gambling revenue while reducing the country’s growing budget deficit. A pilot plan to take effect in March will allow Vietnamese to gamble in the country’s casinos for the first time—currently only foreigners can. Another will allow bets nationwide on horse and dog races, as well as international soccer matches. This follows what officials call an “American-style” lottery started last year by the finance ministry in partnership with Malaysia’s Berjaya Corp.

“They need tax revenues,” said Alexandre Legendre, a Hanoi-based partner at Leadco Legal Counsel, which has advised foreign investors on the country’s gambling opportunities. “The fiscal situation of the country is under pressure.”

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